The name of the game seemed to be chaos. That’s how Owen Wilson and Josh Brolin have both described the process of “Inherent Vice.” It’s not something you expect to hear from filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson. But his style has radically evolved. Gone are the indebted Scorsese and Altman traits of “Boogie Nights” and “Magnolia” and instead a much looser, experimental approach to filmmaking has been found. And ever since “There Will Be Blood,” it’s seen the director take his work to a whole new level that’s eschewed most obvious influences.
“The Master” disavowed narrative even more going for a dreamy mood and askewed tone, but PTA’s latest, an adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s “Inherent Vice,” is detective stoner comedy with psychedelic overtones. “It has this 'Big Lebowski' element to one side of it, but the emotional undertone, the desperation, the paranoia, and the yearning in the film…, NYFF director Kent Jones said hinting about the film earlier this year.
Here’s the film’s...
